Magic Theatre Inc.
Magic Theatre Inc.
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About this organization
Mission
Magic Theatre is dedicated to the cultivation of bold new plays, playwrights, and audiences – and to producing explosive, entertaining, and ideologically robust plays that ask substantive questions about, and reflect the rich diversity of the world in which we live. Magic believes that demonstrating faith in a writer’s vision by providing a safe yet rigorous artistic home, where a full body of work can be imagined, supported, and produced, allows writers to thrive.
About
Now celebrating its 55th year of continuous operation, Magic is dedicated to creative risk: we cultivate bold new plays and playwrights to produce explosive, entertaining, and ideologically robust stories that ask substantive questions about our place in humanity. Magic provides a nurturing yet rigorous artistic home where innovative writers can create a body of work. We believe that developing an evolved artistic vocabulary with the playwright at our side, over a long period of time, greatly improves a playwright’s chances to thrive. We believe that, by adding vanguard voices to the canon and expanding access to new theatre-goers, we ensure the future vibrancy of the American theatre. Magic’s impact on the field has resonated throughout the United States beginning with its founding by John Lion in 1967. Michael McClure served as the first playwright in residence beginning in 1969 with his early plays. Sam Shepard cut his playwright’s teeth at Magic, starting in 1975. His seminal plays were written and premiered during his decade-long residency, including Buried Child (Pulitzer Prize, 1979), True West (both directed by Robert Woodruff), and Fool for Love. Martin Esslin, internationally renowned scholar and critic, joined the company as the first resident dramaturg in American theater in 1977, a position now integral to American new playhouses. From Sam Shepard’s early Pulitzer and Obie-award winning plays to Luis Alfaro’s world premiere of Oedipus el Rey in 2010 and 2019, Taylor Mac’s groundbreaking five hour epic The Lily’s Revenge in 2011, and Han Ong’s Grandeur in 2017, the Magic has continued to produce groundbreaking new plays. Magic continues to invest in playwright residencies and long-term artistic developmental efforts as it hones its focus on new play creation in concert with the playwright. Since Loretta Greco (Artistic Director 2008-2020) assumed leadership of Magic, the theatre has produced twenty-five world premieres, seventeen of which have enjoyed extended life beyond the Magic stage throughout the U.S. and abroad. Three of Magic’s plays were seen in L.A. and New York in the first part of 2014: Se Llama Cristina at Pasadena’s Boston Court, Annapurna produced by Off-Broadway’s New Group, and Arlington, Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre. The international reach of Magic’s new plays spans the globe, with productions of Any Given Day in Paris, and American Hwangap (translated into Korean) in Seoul. Taylor Mac’s Hir has not only enjoyed recent runs at Steppenwolf Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Mixed Blood Theatre Company, and the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company here in the U.S., but also garnered success abroad with recent runs in London and Sydney. Hir continues to be frequently and widely produced. Other Magic premieres recently completed runs at theatres throughout the U.S. and Canada: Se Llama Cristina by Octavio Solis at Kitchen Dog in Dallas; Jesus in India by Lloyd Suh off-Broadway at Ma-Yi Theater Company, co-produced by The Play Company; An Accident by Lydia Stryk at Northern Lights Theatre in Edmonton; Sister Play by John Kolvenbach at Chester Theatre Company and Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre. Sharr White’s Annapurna enjoyed a production at Los Angeles’s Odyssey Theatre, and his play The Other Place was produced on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Luis Alfaro’s Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles, which premiered at Magic as Bruja in 2012, recently had a production at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. His earlier work, Oedipus el Rey, will be produced in The Public Theatre’s 2017-2018 season. Oedipus el Rey was awarded the Will Glickman Playwriting Award for 2010 and Annapurna was a finalist for the 2012 Steinberg/ACTA New Play Award. In addition to these notable artists, Magic has been home to: Paula Vogel, Soon 3, Athol Fugard, Mark O’Rowe, Nilo Cruz, Octavio Solis, Claire Chafee, Jon Robin Baitz, Anne Bogart, Stephen Belber, Basil Twist, and Rebecca Gilman, amongst others. They have been joined in recent years by many of today’s exciting playwrights, such as Linda McLean, Teresa Rebeck, Lloyd Suh, Julie Marie Myatt, and Christina Anderson. Magic plays have received numerous awards: the Pulitzer Prize for Sam Shepard’s Buried Child, ten Obie Awards, the Kennedy Center Award, PEN-West Awards for Drama, Bay Area Critics’ Circle Awards, Los Angeles Drama-Logue Awards, and the NAACP Image Award. In April of 2021, Magic announced its next Artistic Director, Sean San José, a Bay Area theatre maker, performer, and producer, who has been making change and amplifying theatrical innovation for the last 25 years. His long history with Magic is fundamentally tied to his history with theatre writ large. Over the years, Sean has had the honor of working at Magic under Mame Hunt’s leadership and more recently under Loretta Greco’s direction in new works by Luis Alfaro, Jessica Hagedorn, Octavio Solis, and many more.
Interesting data from their 2020 990 filing
The filing specifies the mission of the non-profit as “Magic theatre is a place where emerging and established playwrights engage audiences in a unique experience; the chance to participate in the development of new work that is staged in an intimate, professional setting that speaks to contemporary issues with originality and with, a sense of urgency and adventure.”.
When explaining its duties, they were described as: “Magic theatre is a place where emerging and established playwrights engage audiences in a unique experience; the chance to participate in the development of new work that is staged in an intimate, professional setting that speaks to contemporary issues with originality and wit, a sense of urgency and adventure.”.
- The state in which the non-profit is authorized to operate legally is CA.
- According to the filing, the address of the non-profit for the year 2020 is 2 MARINA BLVD BLDG D 2ND FLOOR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, 94123.
- The non-profit has reported 62 employees on their form for the year 2020.
- Is not a private foundation.
- Expenses are greater than $1,000,000.
- Revenue is greater than $1,000,000.
- Revenue less expenses is -$15,299.
- The organization has 11 independent voting members.
- The organization was formed in 1971.
- The organization pays $764,026 in salary, compensation, and benefits to its employees.
- The organization pays $200,423 in fundraising expenses.
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